Kevin Goh, who takes over as CEO of the world's biggest
serviced apartment operator in 2018, gives SAN a comprehensive
overview of Ascott's future plans.

• Which countries and regions do you think will be the
ones where Ascott will see the most growth over the next three to
five years?

"We focus on key gateway cities in markets such as Singapore,
China, Australia, capital cities in south-east Asia, Seoul, Tokyo,
Paris, London, key cities in Germany and the US. As we scale up
rapidly through acquisitions, management contracts and franchises,
we are confident of exceeding our target of 80,000 units globally
by 2020.

China is Ascott's fastest-growing and largest market, with more
than 18,000 units in over 100 properties across 29 Chinese cities.
We have secured 16 properties with more than 2,900 units this year,
and expanded Ascott's footprint to four new cities - Handan,
Kunming, Xuzhou and Yichang. We are confident of achieving our
target of 20,000 units in China well ahead of 2020 as there are
significant opportunities for Ascott to expand in the world's
second largest economy. China's rising incomes are driving domestic
travel and making it the world's biggest outbound travel market. In
2016, over four billion domestic trips were made in China, while
the number of Chinese outbound travellers rose six per cent to 135
million. China's growing middle class segment, with its increasing
affluence, is projected to reach 800 million by 2025."

"In addition to catering to the demand from expatriates in China,
awareness of Ascott has also grown significantly amongst the
Chinese. In 2016, more than 60 per cent of our guests in China are
Chinese. The Chinese are also amongst Ascott's top customers at our
properties globally with revenue surging by 35 per cent
year-on-year. Besides expanding in China through investments,
securing management contracts and forming strategic alliances with
some of the biggest property developers and construction firms in
China such as Vanke, Yuexiu and Dongfu, we will continue to
leverage our collaboration with China's new economy leaders such as
Tujia and Fliggy to expand our reach to more Chinese
customers."

Several south-east Asian markets present strong growth potential
for serviced residences, with the region's young population, rising
middle-income group, growing export figures and various economic
policies in place to attract foreign capital. The ASEAN Economic
Community is expected to boost its competitiveness and
connectivity, as well as increase business activities and foreign
direct investment, driving demand for serviced residences. In
Singapore, demand for our serviced residences remains strong as our
properties are in prime locations. For example, our latest
property, Ascott Orchard Singapore, is getting high occupancy of
close to 80 per cent."

"This year, we have added about 1,000 units across four properties
in Singapore, making Ascott the largest and fastest growing
serviced residence operator in Singapore with close to 2,000 units
in 12 properties. We acquired a site where we will develop the
Singapore flagship of Ascott's millennial-focused lyf brand. The
property to be named lyf Funan Singapore is slated to open in 2020.
We also secured contracts to manage Citadines Balestier Singapore,
lyf Farrer Park Singapore and a prime serviced residence as part of
CapitaLand's landmark integrated development in Raffles Place on
the site of former Golden Shoe Car Park. The three serviced
residences are slated to open in 2021."

"Vietnam, in particular, hit a record high foreign direct
investment of US$15.8 billion in 2016 and it is where Ascott's
biggest south-east Asian portfolio is located. We have 22
properties with close to 5,000 units in Vietnam. Emerging markets
such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos are also presenting
opportunities for serviced residences. As the government in these
markets push for more economic reforms and attract more foreign
companies to set up offices in their country, the number of
corporate travellers are expected to increase, generating demand
for our serviced residences. We have one operating serviced
residence in Vientiane, Laos, three properties to open
progressively in Phnom Penh, Cambodia between this year and 2019,
as well as two in Yangon, Myanmar that are slated to open in 2018
and 2020."

"Europe is a key market for Ascott's global expansion. Last year,
we boosted Ascott's €1.2 billion-plus asset size in Europe with the
acquisition of Citadines Islington London, which is scheduled to
open in 2019. Next year, we will be opening La Clef Champs Élysées
Paris, our third property in Europe under The Crest Collection of
unique luxury serviced residences. We see strong growth potential
for serviced residences in Europe. International tourist arrivals
to Europe increased by four per cent to almost 500 million or 40
per cent of the world's total in 20164. Both inbound and outbound
travel have grown at a steady average rate of 3.7 per cent and 3.5
per cent year-on-year in recent years. Ascott is one of the largest
international serviced residence owner-operators in Europe with
more than 5,500 units in 46 properties. Our properties are located
across 20 key cities in seven countries - Belgium, France, Georgia,
Germany, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom. We will continue to
deepen our presence in gateway cities and explore new markets to
achieve Ascott's target of 10,000 apartment units in Europe by
2020. We plan to expand through acquisitions of turnkey
developments or existing buildings which Ascott can convert into
serviced residences, management contracts and franchises."

• How has the lyf brand been received? Do you have plans
to bring it to Europe and other regions?

"We have received very strong interest in lyf, our new co-living
concept designed by millennials for the growing wave of millennial
and millennial-minded travellers such as technopreneurs, start-ups
and creatives from the music, media and fashion
industries. lyf provides these global jetsetters and
trendsetters with the opportunity to 'live your freedom' in a
dynamic environment and network with like-minded travellers to
bring more ideas to life. It provides the stage for guests to bond
through social spaces and activities such as workshops and talks.
Ascott has secured four lyf properties, namely lyf Wu Tong Island
Shenzhen and lyf DDA Dalian in China are scheduled to open in 2018,
followed by lyf Funan Singapore in 2020 and lyf Farrer Park
Singapore in 2021. Besides Singapore and China, Ascott is actively
looking to secure more contracts in other potential markets in Asia
Pacific including Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and
Thailand. For Europe, we are looking at markets such as France,
Germany and the United Kingdom. Ascott's target is to achieve
10,000 units under the lyf brand worldwide by 2020."

• Are there any other new brand launches in the
pipeline?

"We will continue to increase our scale by expanding our current
brands - Ascott, Citadines, Somerset, The Crest Collection, our new
lyf brand as well as Quest. We acquired an additional 60 per cent
stake in Quest Apartment Hotels in July, which increased Ascott's
stake in Quest to 80 per cent and leapfrogged Ascott to become the
largest serviced residence provider in Australasia. We see the
potential for its highly scalable business format franchise as a
key driver of growth for Ascott."

• Looking at your global coverage, North America is the
only obvious gap - do you have plans to expand your presence
there?

"The US will continue to be an economic powerhouse and its
potential for long-term returns is attractive. It is our third
largest source market for guests and we expect this to grow.

"In October this year, we announced that we are investing S$81.5
million to acquire and refurbish The Domain Hotel, a freehold hotel
in Silicon Valley, California, to capture the fast-growing demand
from global technology companies and multinational corporations.
The 136-unit hotel will continue to operate as it undergoes
refurbishment in phases before being rebranded to Citadines
Cupertino Sunnyvale in 4Q 2018. This will be Ascott's second
Citadines-branded property in the US, following its acquisition of
Hotel Central Fifth Avenue New York in May. The property is our
fourth acquisition in the U.S. within five months. Ascott has more
than tripled last year's portfolio to over 2,900 units in the
country."

"In July 2017, we announced the acquisition of an 80 per cent
stake in Synergy Global Housing, a leading accommodation provider
in the U.S. The acquisition has expanded Ascott's footprint in the
U.S. and strengthen our extensive range of international-class
serviced residences for corporate customers worldwide. This
acquisition is yet another move to transform Ascott's global
operating platform, better understand customers' needs and thereby
improving our service and product offerings to them.

"Earlier in May 2017, Ascott's real estate investment trust,
Ascott Residence Trust, announced the acquisition of DoubleTree by
Hilton Hotel New York - Times Square South, adding to its two
properties in Manhattan - Sheraton Tribeca New York Hotel and
Element New York Times Square West hotel. In the same month, Ascott
acquired Hotel Central Fifth Avenue New York, which will be
rebranded to Citadines Fifth Avenue New York in 2018. Bringing our
Citadines brand to the U.S. will enhance our engagement with
American customers, and reinforce the cross selling of our other
properties in Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. Besides
strengthening our foothold in New York and California, we also see
opportunities for Ascott to expand in other U.S. cities such as
Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC."

• With the recent launch of numerous new aparthotel brands
globally, how do you envisage the Citadines brand evolving, and
where will its expansion focus be?

"Citadines is Ascott's fastest growing brand having more than
tripled its portfolio since our acquisition of the Citadines
Apart'hotel chain in Europe in 2004. We currently have 124
Citadines-branded properties with close to 20,000 units globally.
This includes 41 Citadines-branded properties with over 8,000 units
under development in Asia. In the Middle East, we will be opening
four Citadines with over 360 units in Dubai, United Arab Emirates;
Abha and Al Khobar in Saudi Arabia as well as Muscat in Oman.
In addition to Citadines Fifth Avenue New York, Ascott marked its
foray into South America in April this year through franchise
agreements for two Citadines serviced residences in São Paulo,
Brazil. Meanwhile, Citadines Islington London, which was acquired
through Ascott's serviced residence global fund, is scheduled to
open in 2019. We will continue to seek opportunities to build on
the strong brand reputation of Citadines. We started a
refurbishment programme in 2010 and invested S$450 million to
renovate 65 properties globally, 32 of which are Citadines
properties in Europe."

• How is the Tujia collaboration working? Would you ever
consider a similar arrangement with the likes of Airbnb or
HomeAway?

"Ascott's investment in Tujia in 2015 has spurred our growth in
China and expanded our reach to more customers through online and
offline channels. Our bookings in China have increased through
Tujia's website and we have also listed our properties worldwide on
the website to cater to the rapidly growing outbound Chinese
travellers. We also formed a joint venture with Tujia to operate
serviced residences under the Tujia Somerset brand of serviced
residences to cater to the booming segment of middle class
travellers in China. There are now 12 Tujia Somerset properties in
10 cities throughout China. Of these, four are operational in
Chongqing, Shenyang and Haikou, and we will be opening eight in
Shanghai, Hangzhou, Handan, Nanjing, Tianjin, Xiamen and
Xuzhou."

"Ascott was also the first serviced residence company to partner
Fliggy, Alibaba's online travel service platform, to further deepen
our access to over 200 million Chinese travellers. To date, Ascott
has listed about 15,000 serviced apartments on Fliggy, covering our
properties in more than 20 destinations most popular amongst
Chinese travellers, such as Singapore, Bangkok, Tokyo, Paris and
London. On whether we will work with other sharing economy
providers, we will review the opportunities as they arise."